A sale of the National Football League's Buffalo Bills, owned now by the estate of Grosse Pointe Shores businessman Ralph Wilson, could be on the horizon.

Terry and Kim Pegula, owners of the National Hockey League's Buffalo Sabres, hired New York City-based investment bank Allen & Co. to explore a purchase of the Bills, The Buffalo News reported.

The sale could top $1 billion. The Bills are estimated by Forbes.com to be worth $870 million.

Wilson paid $25,000 to launch the Bills in 1960; he died in March at age 95.

Allen & Co.'s Steve Greenberg is working with the Pegulas. Locally, he represented Dan Gilbert in his 2005 purchase of the Cleveland Cavaliers and former Compuware Corp. CEO Peter Karmanos Jr. in his sale of a portion of the NHL's Carolina Hurricanes in 2010.